Zaria was taking her nap in the noisy living room.
We were playing different types of music so Zara could dance to it.
We had Jackie Cheung blasting one minute, Eva Cassidy singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow next, then Carly Simon’s Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Zaria slept through the noise, not even a stir from her.

We then changed the CD to Vivaldi’s Spring.

We saw Zaria responding to the tune. She opened her eyes, listened a bit, blinked, then rubbed her eyes, and she started turning around, trying to find the source of the tune (the speakers) sleepily. It seemed she’s remembering the tune, which I played to her weekly (I have 7 sets of clasical tune which I alternated daily) with an mp3 player since I was four months pregnant with her. She rolled to her stomach and liistened without moving for half a minute before wriggling about again.

Ever wonder if a babies could recall things that happened when they were in their mother’s womb? I think they can based on this experience.

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Our paed gave me a sample tin of Neslec 1+. I thought I shouldn’t waste it, I let Zara have it on Sunday. After she’d taken a few sips, I stopped her and asked, “This is a new milk mummy is giving you, nice or not?”
Zara replied, “Not nice, old milk nicer. Old milk creamy creamy. New milk taste like mucus.”
I thought she was trying to be funny, “Taste like mucus meh?”
Zara replied, “Yeah, salty salty one.”
I took the bottle from her and had a sip, “Let mummy try.”
True enough, the milk is a little salty just like mucus.

I think milk companies should hire Zara to taste their milk since she has such acute sense of taste and able to describe the taste using lay man terms. >.O

These are some things she said recently which is ‘worthy’ of me keeping a record.

After her bath, she came out crying and screaming, she said, My petpet spicy“
I think she probably touched herself with soapy hands in the bath, but ‘spicy’? What a way to describe it.

She called Sam (my niece) on the phone the other day, I heard her said :
“Why you so long didn’t come my house?
You want to come?
I have kite you know
You can play with it, no problem.”

She was trying to tuck her ‘son’ Mr Blue to sleep on her bed.
“Mr Blue. I’m mummy Zara.
You feeling cozy?
It’s cozy here right?
You good boy?
Mummy (referring to herself) sometimes good girl, sometimes naughty girl.”

We saw a kite at our neighbour’s gate front, I asked if she knew what happened to the kite, she replied, “I think the wind suddenly stopped, so the kite fell down lok”

We showed her the wedding photo of the world’s tallest man in the newspaper, and Daddy told her about marriage : a man falls in love with a woman, the man tells the woman “I love you” and then asks her “Will you marry me?” and then they get married.
Zara came to me and said, “I love you mummy.” “Will you marry me?”. Awwwwwwwwwww..

Some of you wanted to know what was Zara’s reaction to my spots :
When I mentioned to her I was going to zap all my ‘moles’, she asked, “painful or not?”
I told her ‘Aunty Doctor’ is very clever to zap, not painful.
“Mummy, I also want to zap my mole, my mole on my knee” (and she pointed her little mole on her knee)
I told her that my moles are different kind of mole, it’s because I’m old already, so I get these moles. She didn’t have to zap hers.

When I got back from the doctor’s. She said, “Mummy look like leapord. Aunty Doctor zap zap mummy’s moles. Mummy old already, got lots of moles.” That’s also the explaination she helped me to give to the curious parents at the park.

Her love for Daddy :

Her relationship with Daddy has improved a lot since Zaria was born.
She told Daddy, “Daddy I love you so much”
Daddy asked her back, “Why do you love Daddy?”
She said, “Because you (are) so clever to jaga (Malay : take care of) me. That’s why.”

She told me, “I love Daddy so much.”
I asked her why she loves Daddy, she told me, “Because Daddy never scold me, only angry with me.” (what she didn’t say is : unlike mummy who always scold me and occasionally smack me or send me to the naughty corner) “o.O

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On why I can’t cane her :

She tossed some sea shells into the court yard the other day, crushing them.
Me : *shook my head* “I think I have to go and buy a cane already. When someone is naughty, I’ll cane that someone.”
Zara : “NOOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Me : “Why are you screaming?”
Zara : “YOU CANNOT!”
Me : “Why I cannot?” *looked at her and wait for an answer*
Zara : “Because…” *thinking*
Me : “Yeah? Because…?”
Zara : “I’M ZARA!”
Me : *trying to stiffle a laugh* “I know you are Zara, so…?”
Zara : “I.. I………..” *Lost of words* “AAAAAAAAAAH!” *cry*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On boiled egg :

I wanted to make some steam egg and Zara wanted to help me shell the egg.
Zara : “Mummy, I help you peck peck the egg.”
Me : “You cannot peck the egg because it’s not boiled egg.”
Zara : “Oh, this is girl egg.. cannot peck, only boy egg can peck.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Hamburger :

We saw a Ramly Burger stall, with a big burger picture.
Me : *pointing to the burger picture* “Zara, what is that, do you know?”
Zara : “It’s a bun”
Me : “It’s a special bun with a special name. Do you know the name?”
Zara : “Hmmmm… It’s a McDonald Bun“
(talk about branding!)

We talk to Zara a lot since she was born, pointing out things to her and naming them, speaking out an action, even though she was still a baby.

“Mummy is changing your clothes now.. Put your right hand in, put your left hand in.”
“We are in our room now. See, that’s the light switch. Now press on it. See, the light is turned on.” etc etc.

And then for the first 18months, she went to King’s Wife’s place at least 3 days a week, she has her cousins talking to her. 

Now that she’s older, we still talk to her a lot and we encourage her to describe things to us.
If she says, “Mummy, Mr Blue (is) very happy.”
(Don’t let it end) “Tell mummy why is Mr Blue happy.”
“Because me just feed Mr Blue.”
(Corrected her) “I just fed Mr Blue.”
*repeated “I just fed Mr Blue.”
(Don’t let it end yet) “What did you feed Mr Blue?”
“Me give Mr Blue some macaroni and cheese.”
(Corrected her and make sure she repeated after me. Then continueed to get her to talk) “Who cooked the Macaroni and Cheese for Mr Blue.
Zara replied.
Probed further “What did you put in the macaroni and cheese”
Zara replied.
…… depending on how much time I have and what I’m doing, the conversation can go on, but normally we don’t let her conversation end at the very 1st line.

Nowadays, she talks a lot, and she describes things she’s doing aloud.
“Mummy, you wearing stripey baju (Malay : clothes) today huh?”
“Kakak, you put the cup here? After the sofa wet, Daddy come home scold you then you know.”
*sniffing the air* “Somebody frying fish. Maybe it’s spicy, I don’t know.” etc etc.

Now with Zaria, I don’t have the luxury. Her chatter box jiejie is always nearby. When I’m feeding Zaria and want to talk to her, Zara will come and ask me questions, or just talk to me, especting a response.
When I sing or talk to Zaria, Zara will be near by adding in her comments, or in turn asking me questions, also expecting a response.

Our new maid who is looking after Zaria while I’m working is very quiet (another gold in the mouth type). She walks around with Zaria in her arms queitly, and when she plays with Zaria, it’s just rattling a toy in front of her, without uttering a word.

Zaria doesn’t get as much “talk time” as Zara did and still does. It’s too early to tell, but I wonder if she’ll be talking later than Zara because of this.

Went to our neighbour’s son, Zackary’s birthday party in Kidszone, Plaza Damas on Saturday. I realised when Zara is eating with friends, she’ll just scoop up whatever that’s placed in front of her. When she’s with us, it’s a different story all together.
Zaria didn’t miss out the fun too, quietly observing what’s happening around.
My mum’s death anniversary, and the family met in the cemetary. This is Zara’s first visit to the cemetary (spot her Phua Chu Kang’s boots).
Zara was saying a prayer, but I really don’t know what about.
Later when we asked her why we went to the cemetary, she said, “Mummy’s mummy die already.” When I asked, “Where is mummy’s mummy now?” She replied, “Under the grass now.”

Zaria trying out Bebe Pod (a “Help Me Sit Seat”). Of course we didn’t buy that for her.
Zaria swimming in a pool for the first time 2 weeks back. She was such a natural, paddling here and there on her own, no need to have mummy near by.
Zaria absolutely love to lick the lollipop liked teether. We keep it in the freezer, and on a hot day, we give it to her as a treat, she’ll be happily licking it away.

“Me is half!”

Today, Zara turns 2 and the half. If you asked her how old she is, sometimes she’ll say, “Twenty” when she wants to be a big girl.  And sometimes she’ll say, “Half”, when she wants to be her age, but not knowing how to say “two and the half”.

11Kg and 89cm. With full set of teeth grown (2nd molar started sprouting early this year).
She gives us much happiness, and sometimes some hair pulling moments when she throws tantrums or ‘bullies’ her meimei. She gives us the tickles at times, and most time we’re just at awe with her.

At this age, she knows how to :
1) put on her shoes, her trousers, and take them off. Knows which shoe should go into which foot.
2) put a disc into the DVD player, turn on the TV, and play a movie/program of her choice.
3) eat on her own with fork and spoon as well as chopsticks (although most of the time she perfers to be fed).
4) stack up building blocks or lego, claiming it to be a house, a room, a rail way track.
5) do simple drawing like puting eyes and a smile or a sad mouth to turn it into face
6) recognise some numbers (8, 7, 1) and alphabet A.
7) finish a 16 piece puzzle effortlessly
8 ) play imaginary games like having a royal tea party,  being a butterfly,  caring for babies or driving a bus on her own.
9) sing almost all nursery rhymes. She’s actually quite good with memorising sounds, so even though she doesn’t know Chinese, she can sing some Chinese kids’ songs too.

Eating with chopsticks; Her creation; Her drawing of happy and sad faces;
Completing her puzzle; Having a royal tea party; Her royal guest, the lamb;
Favourite past time in a restaurant; Being a butterfly; Decorating herselves with stickers.

She’s more independant now, able to be on her own, playing, watching a TV program, doing ‘drawing’ and ‘colouring’.
She allows Daddy or Tuyam to tuck her to sleep occasionally, but mostly it has to be me.
She sometimes go over to neighbour’s house to play on her own, without us accompanying her.
She’s the English teacher at home, correcting the maids’ English. “It’s maam, not mum”. “It’s meh-dee-sen (medicine), not meh-lee-sen.”
She’s assertive and expressive. “No, no, no, you don’t touch the remote control, I want to watch my DVD.” “I want Vitagen 1st not later” “You don’t push me ok, and you don’t scold me!” (e.g. when she tries to give Zaria too tight a hug, and I had to seperate the 2 of them, and raise my voice at her). “No, this baju (Malay : clothes) is not nice. I want to wear my jeans.” “I want to go home, this restaurant is too noisy.”
She loves books, TV, being pretty, being outdoor, playing, animals, home made macaroni and cheese, ice cold non-fizzy drinks, ice creams, cheese, singing, dancing.
She’s afraid of me getting angry with her, loud thunder, cars zooming passed her too quickly, creepy crawlies.
She’s Mummy’s and Daddy’s beloved. Although sometimes she thinks I love Zaria more because I spend a lot time with Zaria (she told Tuyam once, “Mummy sayang (Malay: love) me little bit. Mummy always sayang mei-mei only.”)

Zara is starting to be curious about her body, and the differences she found in mine. She asked about the differences sometimes, and at times just make passing comments.

She’ll say things like,
“When I big girl, I will have hair in my petpet (female private part).”
“When I big girl, my petpet will have blood. Then I have to wear mummy’s diaper (sanitory pad).”
“When I big girl, I will have milk in my breast. Then I can breast feed Mr Blue (she recently claims Mr Blue is her baby).”

She has been touching her private part recently, and I took it as a passing phase and did not make a big deal out of it. Today, over dinner Tuyam told me she said the below to Tuyam during the day,
“Kakak, my petpet got peanut. You help me take out the peanut.”

……… “o.O

So that’s why she’s been touching herself, she was just curious why there was a peanut in her private part.

I laughed so much over dinner I had tears in my eyes, the way she relate to things ….. And my little girl, she’s really growing up.

Zara speaks like an old lady at times. Giving me speechless moments, or a good laugh, or just at awe with how much she’s grown. More of such moments :

She likes to call people Yoo Hoo these days. E.g. “Yooo Hooo… turn on the TV for me” “Yooo Hooo! I want Vitagen”
I did the same, and called her, “Yooo Hooo.. You want to take bath now?”
She looked at me and said, “Mum, dont’ call me yoohoo, call me ZA-RA.”

She wanted some Pringles chips.
I told her, “Only one piece, you cannot eat so much ok.”
She continued, “Because got MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) right?”
(We always tell her she can’t have instant noodle, or outside food too much because they contain lots of MSG)

Overheard her talking to her toy lamb.
*pretending to apply something to the lamb’s face*
“No worries, it’s just paint (make up) ok.”
“Are you comfortable?”
“Finished already. All done!“
*started holding the lamb and ran around the sofa*
“Run, run, run, Isn’t it fun?”

Over heard her saying :
“Don’t worry. I love you very much.”
“I sayang you ok?”
“When I big girl, I get married with you.”
“Rusty boy, you is (are) my husband.”
And who is Rusty Boy?……… Our cat at home. “O.o

I told her I need to change before going out to buy lunch.
Zara : “Me is wearing new (clean) baju (Malay : clothes) already. You is going to change.”
Me : *correcting her Grammar*”I AM wearinng new baju. You ARE going to change.”
Zara : “Me is changed.”
Me : “I changed. Not Me is changed.”
Zara : “I have CHANGE-DED.”

While we were at Morib.
Zara was curious with every thing she saw on the ground, and I was shouting,
“Zara, don’t touch that, that’s rubbish” when she was aiming for the piece of ice cream wrapper
“Zara, don’t touch that, that’s rubbish” when she was trying to pick up a bottle cap
“Zara, don’t touch that, that’s rubbish”.. it just came out automatically when she reached for something on the ground.
She raised her hand and showed me a casuarina seed, “This is pineapple lar. You silly girl, everything also you say it’s rubbish rubbish. Tsk.” (And shook her head. She is using the ‘tsk’ sound a lot to indicate her displeasure)

At the dinner table, Zara didn’t want to eat her vege.
Daddy *coaxing her* :”You must eat your vege, so you’ll grow up properly.”
Zara : “No, I don’t want.”
Daddy : “blah blah blah. You must eat.”
After a few times of Daddy ‘nagging’ her, she finally said, “Daddy, it’s difficult. It’s difficult to eat the vege Daddy.” (her first time using the word ‘difficult’)
……………

Zara didn’t want to drink water.
Me : “Zara, please drink some water.”
Zara : “I don’t want.”
Me : “Zara, mummy tell you nicely, please drink some water ok?”
Zara : “Mummy, I tell you nicely, no thank you please”
……………

Zara likes to sit with her legs opened wide, and has just recently learnt that a boy’s petpet (reproductive organ) is called “penis”.
She had her legs opened wide the other day in her car seat. To encourage her to be more lady like, I told her : “Zara, you sit like that you’ll grow a penis in your petpet.”
Very quickly she responded, “Last time daddy sit(sat) down open(ed) his legs big big that’s why his petpet got penis now.”
……………

You know your milk is delicious when :

1) Your baby drinks it up with no complain
2) Your fussy toddler (with acute sense of taste) waits by the side when baby is drinking the milk from a bottle and excitedly says, “Meimei, you don’t want huh? Cannot finish huh? Faster give jiejie drink then.”
3) Whatever your baby can’t finish (from the bottle), you toddler grabs it and happily empties the bottle, exclaiming, “Yummy” or “So nice” at the end of it
4) Your toddler occasionally cries and asks to be fed from the breast. When you tell her she’s already a big girl, she replies, “I’m only a baby, I want to drink from mummy’s breast.”

And if you want to know, nope, I didn’t let the toddler feed from the breast.